Enabling File Attachments in Calendar Events

ABSTRACT

Methods and systems for enabling file attachments in a mobile calendar application are presented. In some embodiments, a mobile device may receive a message comprising an electronic calendar invitation and an electronic file attachment. The mobile device may generate an association between the electronic file attachment received in the message and a calendar event in an electronic calendar mobile application executing on the mobile computing device, wherein the calendar event is associated with the electronic calendar invitation. In response to receiving a selection to display the calendar event in the electronic calendar mobile application, the mobile device may generate a display of the calendar event comprising a display of the associated electronic file attachment in the electronic calendar mobile application.

FIELD

Aspects described herein generally relate to data access in mobileapplications. More specifically, aspects described herein relate totechniques for enabling file attachments to be accessed in a mobilecalendar application.

BACKGROUND

More and more people are using mobile devices in personal and businesssettings for a variety of purposes. These devices are often used byindividuals to send and receive emails, manage appointments, share mediafiles, consume media content, and perform a plethora of otheractivities, sometimes from remote or unusual locations. As these devicescontinue to grow in popularity and provide an increasing number ofbusiness applications, enterprise mobile applications are providingemployees with means to access networked enterprise applications fromtheir mobile device. Users are able to access their emails, calendarappointments, and other mobile applications across multiple differentdevices with the advent of cloud-based applications and devices.

Mobile enterprise applications rely on data synchronization protocols toallow users access to applications, enterprise data, and accountinformation on multiple different devices under the same account.Application data and account specific data may be synchronized acrossmultiple different networked devices and servers using such datasynchronization protocols. However, in current mobile devices, somemobile applications are not able to allow their users to access contentthat would be visible to them while using a desktop applicationcounterpart of the mobile application. Conventional mobile calendarapplications cannot allow a user to access a file attachment associatedwith an appointment even though such a file attachment associated withthe appointment may be visible to the same user having logged into thesame user account on a desktop application showing the calendarappointment. Although mobile users can schedule, accept, and view theircalendar appointments on their mobile device, they cannot view fileattachments embedded in such appointments. Conventional mobile calendarapplications also do not allow mobile users to attach files to newappointments that are generated using the mobile calendar application.

SUMMARY

The following presents a simplified summary of various aspects describedherein. This summary is not an extensive overview, and is not intendedto identify key or critical elements or to delineate the scope of theclaims. The following summary merely presents some concepts in asimplified form as an introductory prelude to the more detaileddescription provided below.

To overcome limitations in the prior art described above, and toovercome other limitations that will be apparent upon reading andunderstanding the present specification, aspects described herein aredirected towards enabling file attachments in mobile applications thatotherwise do not have the ability to access such file attachments.

A first aspect described herein provides a method of receiving, by amobile computing device, a message comprising an electronic calendarinvitation and an electronic file attachment. An association may begenerated between the electronic file attachment received in the messageand a calendar event of an electronic calendar mobile applicationexecuting on the mobile computing device such that the calendar event isassociated with the electronic calendar invitation. In response toreceiving a selection to display the calendar event in the electroniccalendar mobile application, a display of the calendar event may begenerated. The calendar event display may comprise a display of theassociated electronic file attachment in the electronic calendar mobileapplication.

In some embodiments, the electronic file attachment may be stored to amemory location of the mobile computing device. A link may be generatedwithin the calendar event to the memory location such that the displayof the electronic file attachment within the calendar event is a displayof the electronic file attachment stored in the memory location. Inresponse to receiving a selection to display the electronic fileattachment in the electronic calendar application, the electronic fileattachment stored in the memory location may be retrieved for display inthe electronic calendar mobile application.

In some embodiments, in response to determining that the electroniccalendar invitation has been accepted, a response message may betransmitted accepting the calendar invitation. The association betweenthe electronic file attachment and the calendar event may be generatedin response to transmitting the response message. In response totransmitting a response message accepting the calendar invitation, acalendar event may be generated in the electronic calendar mobileapplication. The mobile computing device may instruct a mobile datasynchronization application to use the association between theelectronic file attachment and the calendar event to generate a link tothe electronic file attachment in the calendar event.

In some embodiments, a mobile data synchronization application may beinstructed to transmit the association between the electronic fileattachment and the calendar event to a computing device remotely locatedfrom the mobile computing device. The mobile data synchronizationapplication may be further to store the association in a user directoryon the remotely located computing device such that the user directorycorresponds to a user account to which the message was addressed. Theassociation between the electronic file attachment and the calendarevent may be further generated by identifying a unique identifierassociated with the received message from a messaging protocol of thereceived message. A link may be generated to the electronic fileattachment in the calendar event by including the unique identifier inan electronic calendar protocol associated with the calendar event togenerate the association.

In some embodiments, it may be determined whether the calendar eventassociated with the electronic calendar invitation previously exists inthe electronic calendar mobile application. In response to determiningthat the calendar event associated with the electronic calendarinvitation previously exists in the electronic calendar mobileapplication, it may be further determined whether the previouslyexisting calendar event is associated with the electronic fileattachment. The association between the electronic file attachmentreceived in the message and the calendar event may be generated inresponse to determining that the previously existing calendar event isnot associated with the electronic file attachment.

In some embodiments, an additional message may be received including anupdated electronic file attachment. The association between theelectronic file attachment and the calendar event may be modified toassociate the calendar event in the electronic calendar mobileapplication with the updated electronic file attachment.

In some embodiments, it may be determined whether the calendar eventassociated with the electronic calendar invitation previously exists inthe electronic calendar mobile application. In response to determiningthat the calendar event does not exist, the electronic file attachmentmay be stored into a pending calendar event database such that theassociation between the electronic file attachment received in themessage and a calendar event in an electronic calendar mobileapplication is generated in response to determining that the calendarevent has been generated in the electronic calendar mobile application.

In some embodiments, the mobile data synchronization application may beinstructed to store the electronic file attachment on a server remotelylocated from the mobile computing device. The mobile datasynchronization application may be instructed to store the associationin a user directory on the remote server such that the user directorycorresponds to a user account to which the message was addressed.

An additional aspect described herein provides an apparatus having atleast one or more processors, or more display screens, and or morememory storing computer-readable instructions that, when executed by atleast one of the processors cause the apparatus to perform the methodset forth above.

These and additional aspects will be appreciated with the benefit of thedisclosures discussed in further detail below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more complete understanding of aspects described herein and theadvantages thereof may be acquired by referring to the followingdescription in consideration of the accompanying drawings, in which likereference numbers indicate like features, and wherein:

FIG. 1 depicts an illustrative computer system architecture that may beused in accordance with one or more illustrative aspects describedherein.

FIG. 2 depicts an illustrative remote-access system architecture thatmay be used in accordance with one or more illustrative aspectsdescribed herein.

FIG. 3 depicts an illustrative cloud-based system architecture that maybe used in accordance with one or more illustrative aspects describedherein.

FIG. 4 depicts an illustrative enterprise mobility management system inaccordance with one or more illustrative aspects described herein.

FIG. 5 is a diagram of an illustrative computing environment forproviding mobile applications that previously did not have access tofile attachments with the ability to access file attachments, inaccordance with one or more illustrative aspects described herein.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing another illustrative computing environmentfor providing mobile applications with the ability to access fileattachments, in accordance with one or more illustrative aspectsdescribed herein.

FIGS. 7A and 7B depict flowcharts that illustrate a method of enablingaccess to file attachments in a mobile calendar application inaccordance with one or more illustrative aspects described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description of the various embodiments, reference ismade to the accompanying drawings identified above and which form a parthereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration various embodimentsin which aspects described herein may be practiced. It is to beunderstood that other embodiments may be utilized and structural andfunctional modifications may be made without departing from the scopedescribed herein. Various aspects are capable of other embodiments andof being practiced or being carried out in various different ways.

As a general introduction to the subject matter described in more detailbelow, aspects described herein are directed towards enabling fileattachments in mobile applications that otherwise do not have theability to access such file attachments. Mobile applications may rely ona data synchronization application such as Microsoft ActiveSync, WindowsMobile Device Center, and Google Sync to synchronize their applicationdata with other instances of such mobile applications executing ondifferent mobile devices, with desktop applications and/or with remoteservers. For example, a mobile calendar application may use MicrosoftActiveSync to synchronize calendar appointments, contact information,and meeting information with one or more mobile device, remote server(e.g., Microsoft Exchange server, ShareFile server), and/or desktopcalendar applications. Such mobile calendar application may retrieveuser calendar data from multiple different online calendar accounts(e.g., multiple Google Calendar accounts, multiple Microsoft Exchangeaccounts, WorxMail account from Citrix etc.) and display suchaccumulated calendar data in one mobile application. Currently, mobilecalendar applications do not allow file attachments to be viewed onmobile devices because mobile device data synchronization applicationssuch as Microsoft ActiveSync do not allow file attachmentsynchronization on mobile calendar applications. Lack of access to fileattachments in mobile calendar applications leads to a great degree ofinconvenience for users who cannot access file attachments attached tocalendar appointments on their mobile devices. Such users have to findaccess to a desktop computer to be able to view such file attachments byopening desktop calendar applications or desktop email applications thatcurrently allow access to file attachments in calendar appointments.

The present disclosure describes methods and systems for enabling accessto file attachments in mobile calendar applications. The fileattachments that are associated with a calendar event may be retrievedby the mobile device itself from an email message containing the fileattachment and the corresponding calendar event invitation used togenerate the calendar event in the mobile calendar application. Themobile device may store such a retrieved file attachment locally to amemory unit. The mobile device may generate an association between thelocally stored file attachment and the corresponding calendar event andgenerate a link in the calendar event to the locally stored fileattachment. Accordingly, the mobile device may gather data calendar andfile attachment data and modify the calendar event in the mobilecalendar application to generate the file attachment.

It is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology used hereinare for the purpose of description and should not be regarded aslimiting. Rather, the phrases and terms used herein are to be giventheir broadest interpretation and meaning. The use of “including” and“comprising” and variations thereof is meant to encompass the itemslisted thereafter and equivalents thereof as well as additional itemsand equivalents thereof. The use of the terms “mounted,” “connected,”“coupled,” “positioned,” “engaged” and similar terms, is meant toinclude both direct and indirect mounting, connecting, coupling,positioning and engaging.

Computing Architecture

Computer software, hardware, and networks may be utilized in a varietyof different system environments, including standalone, networked,remote-access (aka, remote desktop), virtualized, and/or cloud-basedenvironments, among others. FIG. 1 illustrates one example of a systemarchitecture and data processing device that may be used to implementone or more illustrative aspects described herein in a standalone and/ornetworked environment. Various network nodes 103, 105, 107, and 109 maybe interconnected via a wide area network (WAN) 101, such as theInternet. Other networks may also or alternatively be used, includingprivate intranets, corporate networks, LANs, metropolitan area networks(MAN) wireless networks, personal networks (PAN), and the like. Network101 is for illustration purposes and may be replaced with fewer oradditional computer networks. A local area network (LAN) may have one ormore of any known LAN topology and may use one or more of a variety ofdifferent protocols, such as Ethernet. Devices 103, 105, 107, 109 andother devices (not shown) may be connected to one or more of thenetworks via twisted pair wires, coaxial cable, fiber optics, radiowaves or other communication media.

The term “network” as used herein and depicted in the drawings refersnot only to systems in which remote storage devices are coupled togethervia one or more communication paths, but also to stand-alone devicesthat may be coupled, from time to time, to such systems that havestorage capability. Consequently, the term “network” includes not only a“physical network” but also a “content network,” which is comprised ofthe data—attributable to a single entity—which resides across allphysical networks.

The components may include data server 103, web server 105, and clientcomputers 107, 109. Data server 103 provides overall access, control andadministration of databases and control software for performing one ormore illustrative aspects describe herein. Data server 103 may beconnected to web server 105 through which users interact with and obtaindata as requested. Data server 103 may be a mobile device connected toweb server 105 and client computers 107 and 109 through network 101.Alternatively, data server 103 may act as a web server itself and bedirectly connected to the Internet. Data server 103 may be connected toweb server 105 through the network 101 (e.g., the Internet), via director indirect connection, or via some other network. Users may interactwith the data server 103 using remote computers 107, 109, e.g., using aweb browser to connect to the data server 103 via one or more externallyexposed web sites hosted by web server 105. Client computers 107, 109may be used in concert with data server 103 to access data storedtherein, or may be used for other purposes. For example, from clientdevice 107 a user may access web server 105 using an Internet browser,as is known in the art, or by executing a software application thatcommunicates with web server 105 and/or data server 103 over a computernetwork (such as the Internet).

Servers and applications may be combined on the same physical machines,and retain separate virtual or logical addresses, or may reside onseparate physical machines. FIG. 1 illustrates just one example of anetwork architecture that may be used, and those of skill in the artwill appreciate that the specific network architecture and dataprocessing devices used may vary, and are secondary to the functionalitythat they provide, as further described herein. For example, servicesprovided by web server 105 and data server 103 may be combined on asingle server.

Each component 103, 105, 107, 109 may be any type of known computer,server, or data processing device. Data server 103, e.g., may include aprocessor 111 controlling overall operation of the rate server 103. Dataserver 103 may further include random access memory (RAM) 113, read onlymemory (ROM) 115, network interface 117, input/output interfaces 119(e.g., keyboard, mouse, display, printer, etc.), and memory 121.Input/output (I/O) 119 may include a variety of interface units anddrives for reading, writing, displaying, and/or printing data or files.Memory 121 may further store operating system software 123 forcontrolling overall operation of the data processing device 103, controllogic 125 for instructing data server 103 to perform aspects describedherein, and other application software 127 providing secondary, support,and/or other functionality which may or might not be used in conjunctionwith aspects described herein. The control logic may also be referred toherein as the data server software 125. Functionality of the data serversoftware may refer to operations or decisions made automatically basedon rules coded into the control logic, made manually by a user providinginput into the system, and/or a combination of automatic processingbased on user input (e.g., queries, data updates, etc.).

Memory 121 may also store data used in performance of one or moreaspects described herein, including a first database 129 and a seconddatabase 131. In some embodiments, the first database may include thesecond database (e.g., as a separate table, report, etc.). That is, theinformation can be stored in a single database, or separated intodifferent logical, virtual, or physical databases, depending on systemdesign. Devices 105, 107, 109 may have similar or different architectureas described with respect to device 103. Those of skill in the art willappreciate that the functionality of data processing device 103 (ordevice 105, 107, 109) as described herein may be spread across multipledata processing devices, for example, to distribute processing loadacross multiple computers, to segregate transactions based on geographiclocation, user access level, quality of service (QoS), etc.

One or more aspects may be embodied in computer-usable or readable dataand/or computer-executable instructions, such as in one or more programmodules, executed by one or more computers or other devices as describedherein. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects,components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks orimplement particular abstract data types when executed by a processor ina computer or other device. The modules may be written in a source codeprogramming language that is subsequently compiled for execution, or maybe written in a scripting language such as (but not limited to)HyperText Markup Language (HTML) or Extensible Markup Language (XML).The computer executable instructions may be stored on a computerreadable medium such as a nonvolatile storage device. Any suitablecomputer readable storage media may be utilized, including hard disks,CD-ROMs, optical storage devices, magnetic storage devices, and/or anycombination thereof. In addition, various transmission (non-storage)media representing data or events as described herein may be transferredbetween a source and a destination in the form of electromagnetic wavestraveling through signal-conducting media such as metal wires, opticalfibers, and/or wireless transmission media (e.g., air and/or space).Various aspects described herein may be embodied as a method, a dataprocessing system, or a computer program product. Therefore, variousfunctionalities may be embodied in whole or in part in software,firmware and/or hardware or hardware equivalents such as integratedcircuits, field programmable gate arrays (FPGA), and the like.Particular data structures may be used to more effectively implement oneor more aspects described herein, and such data structures arecontemplated within the scope of computer executable instructions andcomputer-usable data described herein.

With further reference to FIG. 2, one or more aspects described hereinmay be implemented in a remote-access environment. FIG. 2 depicts anexample system architecture including a generic computing device 201 inan illustrative computing environment 200 that may be used according toone or more illustrative aspects described herein. Generic computingdevice 201 may be a mobile computing device configured to provide accessto managed applications to its users in a secure environment. Thegeneric computing device 201 may have a processor 203 for controllingoverall operation of the server and its associated components, includingRAM 205, ROM 207, I/O module 209, and memory 215.

I/O module 209 may include a mouse, keypad, touch screen, scanner,optical reader, and/or stylus (or other input device(s)) through which auser of generic computing device 201 may provide input, and may alsoinclude one or more of a speaker for providing audio output and a videodisplay device for providing textual, audiovisual, and/or graphicaloutput. Software may be stored within memory 215 and/or other storage toprovide instructions to processor 203 for configuring generic computingdevice 201 into a special purpose computing device in order to performvarious functions as described herein. For example, memory 215 may storesoftware used by the computing device 201, such as an operating system217, application programs 219, and an associated database 221.

Computing device 201 may operate in a networked environment supportingconnections to one or more remote computers, such as terminals 240 (alsoreferred to as client devices). The terminals 240 may be personalcomputers, mobile devices, laptop computers, tablets, or servers thatinclude many or all of the elements described above with respect to thegeneric computing device 103 or 201. The network connections depicted inFIG. 2 include a local area network (LAN) 225 and a wide area network(WAN) 229, but may also include other networks. When used in a LANnetworking environment, computing device 201 may be connected to the LAN225 through a network interface or adapter 223. When used in a WANnetworking environment, computing device 201 may include a modem 227 orother wide area network interface for establishing communications overthe WAN 229, such as computer network 230 (e.g., the Internet). It willbe appreciated that the network connections shown are illustrative andother means of establishing a communications link between the computersmay be used. Computing device 201 and/or terminals 240 may also bemobile terminals (e.g., mobile phones, smartphones, personal digitalassistants (PDAs), notebooks, etc.) including various other components,such as a battery, speaker, and antennas (not shown).

Aspects described herein may also be operational with numerous othergeneral purpose or special purpose computing system environments orconfigurations. Examples of other computing systems, environments,and/or configurations that may be suitable for use with aspectsdescribed herein include, but are not limited to, personal computers,server computers, hand-held or laptop devices, multiprocessor systems,microprocessor-based systems, set top boxes, programmable consumerelectronics, network personal computers (PCs), minicomputers, mainframecomputers, distributed computing environments that include any of theabove systems or devices, and the like.

As shown in FIG. 2, one or more client devices 240 may be incommunication with one or more servers 206 a-206 n (generally referredto herein as “server(s) 206”). In one embodiment, the computingenvironment 200 may include a network appliance installed between theserver(s) 206 and client machine(s) 240. The network appliance maymanage client/server connections, and in some cases can load balanceclient connections amongst a plurality of backend servers 206. In someembodiments, computing device 201 may be a mobile client device incommunication with other client machine(s) 240.

The client machine(s) 240 may in some embodiments be referred to as asingle client machine 240 or a single group of client machines 240,while server(s) 206 may be referred to as a single server 206 or asingle group of servers 206. In one embodiment a single client machine240 communicates with more than one server 206, while in anotherembodiment a single server 206 communicates with more than one clientmachine 240. In yet another embodiment, a single client machine 240communicates with a single server 206.

A client machine 240 can, in some embodiments, be referenced by any oneof the following non-exhaustive terms: client machine(s); client(s);client computer(s); client device(s); client computing device(s); localmachine; remote machine; client node(s); endpoint(s); or endpointnode(s). The server 206, in some embodiments, may be referenced by anyone of the following non-exhaustive terms: server(s), local machine;remote machine; server farm(s), or host computing device(s).

In one embodiment, the client machine 240 may be a virtual machine. Thevirtual machine may be any virtual machine, while in some embodimentsthe virtual machine may be any virtual machine managed by a Type 1 orType 2 hypervisor, for example, a hypervisor developed by CitrixSystems, IBM, VMware, or any other hypervisor. In some aspects, thevirtual machine may be managed by a hypervisor, while in aspects thevirtual machine may be managed by a hypervisor executing on a server 206or a hypervisor executing on a client 240.

Some embodiments include a client device 240 that displays applicationoutput generated by an application remotely executing on a server 206 orother remotely located machine. In these embodiments, the client device240 may execute a virtual machine receiver program or application todisplay the output in an application window, a browser, or other outputwindow. In one example, the application is a desktop, while in otherexamples the application is an application that generates or presents adesktop. A desktop may include a graphical shell providing a userinterface for an instance of an operating system in which local and/orremote applications can be integrated. Applications, as used herein, areprograms that execute after an instance of an operating system (and,optionally, also the desktop) has been loaded.

The server 206, in some embodiments, uses a remote presentation protocolor other program to send data to a thin-client or remote-displayapplication executing on the client to present display output generatedby an application executing on the server 206. The thin-client orremote-display protocol can be any one of the following non-exhaustivelist of protocols: the Independent Computing Architecture (ICA) protocoldeveloped by Citrix Systems, Inc. of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.; or the RemoteDesktop Protocol (RDP) manufactured by the Microsoft Corporation ofRedmond, Wash.

A remote computing environment may include more than one server 206a-206 n such that the servers 206 a-206 n are logically grouped togetherinto a server farm 206, for example, in a cloud computing environment.The server farm 206 may include servers 206 that are geographicallydispersed while and logically grouped together, or servers 206 that arelocated proximate to each other while logically grouped together.Geographically dispersed servers 206 a-206 n within a server farm 206can, in some embodiments, communicate using a WAN (wide), MAN(metropolitan), or LAN (local), where different geographic regions canbe characterized as: different continents; different regions of acontinent; different countries; different states; different cities;different campuses; different rooms; or any combination of the precedinggeographical locations. In some embodiments the server farm 206 may beadministered as a single entity, while in other embodiments the serverfarm 206 can include multiple server farms.

In some embodiments, a server farm may include servers 206 that executea substantially similar type of operating system platform (e.g.,WINDOWS, UNIX, LINUX, iOS, ANDROID, SYMBIAN, etc.) In other embodiments,server farm 206 may include a first group of one or more servers thatexecute a first type of operating system platform, and a second group ofone or more servers that execute a second type of operating systemplatform.

Server 206 may be configured as any type of server, as needed, e.g., afile server, an application server, a web server, a proxy server, anappliance, a network appliance, a gateway, an application gateway, agateway server, a virtualization server, a deployment server, a SecureSockets Layer (SSL) VPN server, a firewall, a web server, an applicationserver or as a master application server, a server executing an activedirectory, or a server executing an application acceleration programthat provides firewall functionality, application functionality, or loadbalancing functionality. Other server types may also be used.

Some embodiments include a first server 106 a that receives requestsfrom a client machine 240, forwards the request to a second server 106b, and responds to the request generated by the client machine 240 witha response from the second server 106 b. First server 106 a may acquirean enumeration of applications available to the client machine 240 aswell as address information associated with an application server 206hosting an application identified within the enumeration ofapplications. First server 106 a can then present a response to theclient's request using a web interface, and communicate directly withthe client 240 to provide the client 240 with access to an identifiedapplication. One or more clients 240 and/or one or more servers 206 maytransmit data over network 230, e.g., network 101.

FIG. 2 shows a high-level architecture of an illustrative desktopvirtualization system. As shown, the desktop virtualization system maybe single-server or multi-server system, or cloud system, including atleast one virtualization server 206 configured to provide virtualdesktops and/or virtual applications to one or more client accessdevices 240. As used herein, a desktop refers to a graphical environmentor space in which one or more applications may be hosted and/orexecuted. A desktop may include a graphical shell providing a userinterface for an instance of an operating system in which local and/orremote applications can be integrated. Applications may include programsthat execute after an instance of an operating system (and, optionally,also the desktop) has been loaded. Each instance of the operating systemmay be physical (e.g., one operating system per device) or virtual(e.g., many instances of an OS running on a single device). Eachapplication may be executed on a local device, or executed on a remotelylocated device (e.g., remoted).

With further reference to FIG. 3, some aspects described herein may beimplemented in a cloud-based environment. FIG. 3 illustrates an exampleof a cloud computing environment (or cloud system) 300. As seen in FIG.3, client computers 311-314 may communicate with a cloud managementserver 310 to access the computing resources (e.g., host servers 303,storage resources 304, and network resources 305) of the cloud system.

Management server 310 may be implemented on one or more physicalservers. The management server 310 may run, for example, CLOUDSTACK byCitrix Systems, Inc. of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., or OPENSTACK, amongothers. Management server 310 may manage various computing resources,including cloud hardware and software resources, for example, hostcomputers 303, data storage devices 304, and networking devices 305. Thecloud hardware and software resources may include private and/or publiccomponents. For example, a cloud may be configured as a private cloud tobe used by one or more particular customers or client computers 311-314and/or over a private network. In other embodiments, public clouds orhybrid public-private clouds may be used by other customers over an openor hybrid networks.

Management server 310 may be configured to provide user interfacesthrough which cloud operators and cloud customers may interact with thecloud system. For example, the management server 310 may provide a setof application programming interfaces (APIs) and/or one or more cloudoperator console applications (e.g., web-based on standaloneapplications) with user interfaces to allow cloud operators to managethe cloud resources, configure the virtualization layer, manage customeraccounts, and perform other cloud administration tasks. The managementserver 310 also may include a set of APIs and/or one or more customerconsole applications with user interfaces configured to receive cloudcomputing requests from end users via client computers 311-314, forexample, requests to create, modify, or destroy virtual machines withinthe cloud. Client computers 311-314 may connect to management server 310via the Internet or other communication network, and may request accessto one or more of the computing resources managed by management server310. In response to client requests, the management server 310 mayinclude a resource manager configured to select and provision physicalresources in the hardware layer of the cloud system based on the clientrequests. For example, the management server 310 and additionalcomponents of the cloud system may be configured to provision, create,and manage virtual machines and their operating environments (e.g.,hypervisors, storage resources, services offered by the networkelements, etc.) for customers at client computers 311-314, over anetwork (e.g., the Internet), providing customers with computationalresources, data storage services, networking capabilities, and computerplatform and application support. Cloud systems also may be configuredto provide various specific services, including security systems,development environments, user interfaces, and the like.

Certain clients 311-314 may be related, for example, different clientcomputers creating virtual machines on behalf of the same end user, ordifferent users affiliated with the same company or organization. Inother examples, certain clients 311-314 may be unrelated, such as usersaffiliated with different companies or organizations. For unrelatedclients, information on the virtual machines or storage of any one usermay be hidden from other users.

Referring now to the physical hardware layer of a cloud computingenvironment, availability zones 301-302 (or zones) may refer to acollocated set of physical computing resources. Zones may begeographically separated from other zones in the overall cloud ofcomputing resources. For example, zone 301 may be a first clouddatacenter located in California, and zone 302 may be a second clouddatacenter located in Florida. Management sever 310 may be located atone of the availability zones, or at a separate location. Each zone mayinclude an internal network that interfaces with devices that areoutside of the zone, such as the management server 310, through agateway. End users of the cloud (e.g., clients 311-314) might or mightnot be aware of the distinctions between zones. For example, an end usermay request the creation of a virtual machine having a specified amountof memory, processing power, and network capabilities. The managementserver 310 may respond to the user's request and may allocate theresources to create the virtual machine without the user knowing whetherthe virtual machine was created using resources from zone 301 or zone302. In other examples, the cloud system may allow end users to requestthat virtual machines (or other cloud resources) are allocated in aspecific zone or on specific resources 303-305 within a zone.

In this example, each zone 301-302 may include an arrangement of variousphysical hardware components (or computing resources) 303-305, forexample, physical hosting resources (or processing resources), physicalnetwork resources, physical storage resources, switches, and additionalhardware resources that may be used to provide cloud computing servicesto customers. The physical hosting resources in a cloud zone 301-302 mayinclude one or more computer servers 303. The physical network resourcesin a cloud zone 301 or 302 may include one or more network elements 305(e.g., network service providers) comprising hardware and/or softwareconfigured to provide a network service to cloud customers, such asfirewalls, network address translators, load balancers, virtual privatenetwork (VPN) gateways, Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP)routers, and the like. The storage resources in the cloud zone 301-302may include storage disks (e.g., solid state drives (SSDs), magnetichard disks, etc.) and other storage devices.

In some embodiments, client computers 311-314 may communicate withmanagement server 310 to retrieve and synchronize application data.Application data for one or more mobile applications executing on anyone of client computers 311-314 may be synchronized with user accountinformation and application data stored in the management server 310.For example, a user's calendar appointments may be stored in a useraccount on the management server 310. The user may access such calendarapplication data stored in the management server 310 on a calendarapplication executing on any one of client computers 311-314.Furthermore, a user may also modify application data stored in themanagement server 310 as a virtue of operations performed on theapplication in any of client computers 311-314. The applicationexecuting on any one of client computers 311-314 may be an interface toaccess and modify application data that may be stored on the managementserver 310. A synchronization software such as Microsoft ActiveSync mayenable application data stored in the management server 310 to beaccessed and modified by an application executing on any one of clientcomputers 311-314.

Enterprise Mobility Management Architecture

FIG. 4 represents illustrative enterprise mobility management system400. The enterprise mobility management system 400 enables a user of amobile device 402 to both access enterprise or personal resources from amobile device 402 and use the mobile device 402 for personal use. Theuser may access such enterprise resources or enterprise services using amobile device 402 that is purchased by the user or a mobile device 402that is provided by the enterprise to user. The user may utilize themobile device 402 for business use only or for business and personaluse. The mobile device may run an iOS operating system, and Androidoperating system, or the like. The enterprise may choose to implementpolicies to manage the mobile device 402. The policies may be implantedthrough a firewall or gateway in such a way that the mobile device maybe identified, secured or security verified, and provided selective orfull access to the enterprise resources. The policies may be mobiledevice management policies, mobile application management policies,mobile data management policies, or some combination of mobile device,application, and data management policies. The mobile device 402 that ismanaged through the application of mobile device management policies maybe referred to as an enrolled device.

In some embodiments, the operating system of the mobile device may beseparated into a managed partition and an unmanaged partition. Themanaged partition may have policies applied to it to secure theapplications running on and data stored in the managed partition. Theapplications running on the managed partition may be secureapplications. In other embodiments, all applications may execute inaccordance with a set of one or more policy files received separate fromthe application, and which define one or more security parameters,features, resource restrictions, and/or other access controls that areenforced by the mobile device management system when that application isexecuting on the device. By operating in accordance with theirrespective policy file(s), each application may be allowed or restrictedfrom communications with one or more other applications and/orresources, thereby creating a virtual partition. Thus, as used herein, apartition may refer to a physically partitioned portion of memory(physical partition), a logically partitioned portion of memory (logicalpartition), and/or a virtual partition created as a result ofenforcement of one or more policies and/or policy files across multipleapps as described herein (virtual partition). Stated differently, byenforcing policies on managed apps, those apps may be restricted to onlybe able to communicate with other managed apps and trusted enterpriseresources, thereby creating a virtual partition that is impenetrable byunmanaged apps and devices.

The secure applications may be email applications, calendarapplications, web browsing applications, software-as-a-service (SaaS)access applications, Windows Application access applications, and thelike. The secure applications may be secure native applications, secureremote applications executed by a secure application launcher,virtualization applications executed by a secure application launcher,and the like. The secure native applications may be wrapped by a secureapplication wrapper. The secure application wrapper may includeintegrated policies that are executed on the mobile device 402 when thesecure native application is executed on the device. As yet anotherexample, the enterprise may have an application that maintains highlysecured data (e.g., human resources data, customer data, and engineeringdata) that may be deemed by the enterprise as too sensitive for even thesecured mobile environment so the enterprise may elect to usevirtualization techniques to permit mobile access to such applicationsand data. An enterprise may elect to provide both fully secured andfully functional applications on the mobile device as well as avirtualization application to allow access to applications that aredeemed more properly operated on the server side. In an embodiment, thevirtualization application may store some data, files, etc. on themobile phone in one of the secure storage locations. An enterprise, forexample, may elect to allow certain information to be stored on thephone while not permitting other information.

In connection with the virtualization application, as described herein,the mobile device may have a virtualization application that is designedto present GUIs and then record user interactions with the GUI. Theapplication may communicate the user interactions to the server side tobe used by the server side application as user interactions with theapplication. In response, the application on the server side maytransmit back to the mobile device a new GUI. For example, the new GUImay be a static page, a dynamic page, an animation, or the like, therebyproviding access to remotely located resources.

An enrolled mobile device 402 with a client agent 404 may interacts withgateway server 406 (which includes Access Gateway and applicationcontroller functionality) to access various enterprise resources 408 andservices 409 such as Exchange, Sharepoint, public-key infrastructure(PKI) Resources, Kerberos Resources, Certificate Issuance service, asshown on the right hand side above. Although not specifically shown, themobile device 402 may also interact with an enterprise application store(StoreFront) for the selection and downloading of applications.

The client agent 404 acts as the UI (user interface) intermediary forWindows apps/desktops hosted in an Enterprise data center, which areaccessed using the High-Definition User Experience (HDX)/ICA displayremoting protocol. The client agent 404 also supports the installationand management of native applications on the mobile device 402, such asnative iOS or Android applications. For example, the managedapplications 410 (mail, browser, wrapped application) shown in thefigure above are all native applications that execute locally on thedevice. Client agent 404 and application management framework of thisarchitecture act to provide policy driven management capabilities andfeatures such as connectivity and SSO (single sign on) to enterpriseresources/services 408. The client agent 404 handles primary userauthentication to the enterprise, normally to Access Gateway (AG) withSSO to other gateway server components. The client agent 404 obtainspolicies from gateway server 406 to control the behavior of the managedapplications 410 on the mobile device 402.

The Secure interprocess communication (IPC) links 412 between the nativeapplications 410 and client agent 404 represent a management channel,which allows client agent to supply policies to be enforced by theapplication management framework 414 “wrapping” each application. TheIPC channel 412 also allows client agent 404 to supply credential andauthentication information that enables connectivity and SSO toenterprise resources 408. Finally the IPC channel 412 allows theapplication management framework 414 to invoke user interface functionsimplemented by client agent 404, such as online and offlineauthentication.

Communications between the client agent 404 and gateway server 406 areessentially an extension of the management channel from the applicationmanagement framework 414 wrapping each native managed application 410.The application management framework 414 requests policy informationfrom client agent 404, which in turn requests it from gateway server406. The application management framework 414 requests authentication,and client agent 404 logs into the gateway services part of gatewayserver 406 (also known as NetScaler Access Gateway). Client agent 404may also call supporting services on gateway server 406, which mayproduce input material to derive encryption keys for the local datavaults 416, or provide client certificates which may enable directauthentication to PKI protected resources, as more fully explainedbelow.

In more detail, the application management framework 414 “wraps” eachmanaged application 410. This may be incorporated via an explicit buildstep, or via a post-build processing step. The application managementframework 414 may “pair” with client agent 404 on first launch of anapplication 410 to initialize the Secure IPC channel and obtain thepolicy for that application. The application management framework 414may enforce relevant portions of the policy that apply locally, such asthe client agent login dependencies and some of the containment policiesthat restrict how local OS services may be used, or how they mayinteract with the application 410.

The application management framework 414 may use services provided byclient agent 404 over the Secure IPC channel 412 to facilitateauthentication and internal network access. Key management for theprivate and shared data vaults 416 (containers) may be also managed byappropriate interactions between the managed applications 410 and clientagent 404. Vaults 416 may be available only after online authentication,or may be made available after offline authentication if allowed bypolicy. First use of vaults 416 may require online authentication, andoffline access may be limited to at most the policy refresh periodbefore online authentication is again required.

Network access to internal resources may occur directly from individualmanaged applications 410 through Access Gateway 406. The applicationmanagement framework 414 is responsible for orchestrating the networkaccess on behalf of each application 410. Client agent 404 mayfacilitate these network connections by providing suitable time limitedsecondary credentials obtained following online authentication. Multiplemodes of network connection may be used, such as reverse web proxyconnections and end-to-end VPN-style tunnels 418.

The Mail and Browser managed applications 410 have special status andmay make use of facilities that might not be generally available toarbitrary wrapped applications. For example, the Mail application mayuse a special background network access mechanism that allows it toaccess Exchange over an extended period of time without requiring a fullAG logon. The Browser application may use multiple private data vaultsto segregate different kinds of data.

This architecture supports the incorporation of various other securityfeatures. For example, gateway server 406 (including its gatewayservices) in some cases will not need to validate active directory (AD)passwords. It can be left to the discretion of an enterprise whether anAD password is used as an authentication factor for some users in somesituations. Different authentication methods may be used if a user isonline or offline (e.g., connected or not connected to a network).

Step up authentication is a feature wherein gateway server 406 mayidentify managed native applications 410 that are allowed to have accessto highly classified data requiring strong authentication, and ensurethat access to these applications is only permitted after performingappropriate authentication, even if this means a re-authentication isrequired by the user after a prior weaker level of login.

Another security feature of this solution is the encryption of the datavaults 416 (containers) on the mobile device 402. The vaults 416 may beencrypted so that all on-device data including files, databases, andconfigurations are protected. For on-line vaults, the keys may be storedon the server (gateway server 406), and for off-line vaults, a localcopy of the keys may be protected by a user password or biometricvalidation. When data is stored locally on the device 402 in the securecontainer 416, it is preferred that a minimum of AES 256 encryptionalgorithm be utilized.

Other secure container features may also be implemented. For example, alogging feature may be included, wherein all security events happeninginside an application 410 are logged and reported to the backend. Datawiping may be supported, such as if the application 410 detectstampering, associated encryption keys may be written over with randomdata, leaving no hint on the file system that user data was destroyed.Screenshot protection is another feature, where an application mayprevent any data from being stored in screenshots. For example, the keywindow's hidden property may be set to YES. This may cause whatevercontent is currently displayed on the screen to be hidden, resulting ina blank screenshot where any content would normally reside.

Local data transfer may be prevented, such as by preventing any datafrom being locally transferred outside the application container, e.g.,by copying it or sending it to an external application. A keyboard cachefeature may operate to disable the autocorrect functionality forsensitive text fields. SSL certificate validation may be operable so theapplication specifically validates the server SSL certificate instead ofit being stored in the keychain. An encryption key generation featuremay be used such that the key used to encrypt data on the device isgenerated using a passphrase or biometric data supplied by the user (ifoffline access is required). It may be XORed with another key randomlygenerated and stored on the server side if offline access is notrequired. Key Derivation functions may operate such that keys generatedfrom the user password use KDFs (key derivation functions, notablyPassword-Based Key Derivation Function 2 (PBKDF2)) rather than creatinga cryptographic hash of it. The latter makes a key susceptible to bruteforce or dictionary attacks.

Further, one or more initialization vectors may be used in encryptionmethods. An initialization vector will cause multiple copies of the sameencrypted data to yield different cipher text output, preventing bothreplay and cryptanalytic attacks. This will also prevent an attackerfrom decrypting any data even with a stolen encryption key if thespecific initialization vector used to encrypt the data is not known.Further, authentication then decryption may be used, wherein applicationdata is decrypted only after the user has authenticated within theapplication. Another feature may relate to sensitive data in memory,which may be kept in memory (and not in disk) only when it's needed. Forexample, login credentials may be wiped from memory after login, andencryption keys and other data inside objective-C instance variables arenot stored, as they may be easily referenced. Instead, memory may bemanually allocated for these.

An inactivity timeout may be implemented, wherein after a policy-definedperiod of inactivity, a user session is terminated.

Data leakage from the application management framework 414 may beprevented in other ways. For example, when an application 410 is put inthe background, the memory may be cleared after a predetermined(configurable) time period. When backgrounded, a snapshot may be takenof the last displayed screen of the application to fasten theforegrounding process. The screenshot may contain confidential data andhence should be cleared.

Another security feature relates to the use of an OTP (one timepassword) 420 without the use of an AD (active directory) 422 passwordfor access to one or more applications. In some cases, some users do notknow (or are not permitted to know) their AD password, so these usersmay authenticate using an OTP 420 such as by using a hardware OTP systemlike SecurID (OTPs may be provided by different vendors also, such asEntrust or Gemalto). In some cases, after a user authenticates with auser ID, a text is sent to the user with an OTP 420. In some cases, thismay be implemented only for online use, with a prompt being a singlefield.

An offline password may be implemented for offline authentication forthose applications 410 for which offline use is permitted via enterprisepolicy. For example, an enterprise may want StoreFront to be accessed inthis manner. In this case, the client agent 404 may require the user toset a custom offline password and the AD password is not used. Gatewayserver 406 may provide policies to control and enforce passwordstandards with respect to the minimum length, character classcomposition, and age of passwords, such as described by the standardWindows Server password complexity requirements, although theserequirements may be modified.

Another feature relates to the enablement of a client side certificatefor certain applications 410 as secondary credentials (for the purposeof accessing PKI protected web resources via the application managementframework micro VPN feature). For example, an application may utilizesuch a certificate. In this case, certificate-based authentication usingActiveSync protocol may be supported, wherein a certificate from theclient agent 404 may be retrieved by gateway server 406 and used in akeychain. Each managed application may have one associated clientcertificate, identified by a label that is defined in gateway server406.

Gateway server 406 may interact with an Enterprise special purpose webservice to support the issuance of client certificates to allow relevantmanaged applications to authenticate to internal PKI protectedresources.

The client agent 404 and the application management framework 414 may beenhanced to support obtaining and using client certificates forauthentication to internal PKI protected network resources. More thanone certificate may be supported, such as to match various levels ofsecurity and/or separation requirements. The certificates may be used bythe Mail and Browser managed applications, and ultimately by arbitrarywrapped applications (provided those applications use web service stylecommunication patterns where it is reasonable for the applicationmanagement framework to mediate https requests).

Application management client certificate support on iOS may rely onimporting a public-key cryptography standards (PKCS) 12 BLOB (BinaryLarge Object) into the iOS keychain in each managed application for eachperiod of use. Application management framework client certificatesupport may use a HTTPS implementation with private in-memory keystorage. The client certificate will never be present in the iOSkeychain and will not be persisted except potentially in “online-only”data value that is strongly protected.

Mutual SSL may also be implemented to provide additional security byrequiring that a mobile device 402 is authenticated to the enterprise,and vice versa. Virtual smart cards for authentication to gateway server406 may also be implemented.

Both limited and full Kerberos support may be additional features. Thefull support feature relates to an ability to do full Kerberos login toActive Directory (AD) 422, using an AD password or trusted clientcertificate, and obtain Kerberos service tickets to respond to HTTPNegotiate authentication challenges. The limited support feature relatesto constrained delegation in Citrix Access Gateway Enterprise Edition(AGEE), where AGEE supports invoking Kerberos protocol transition so itcan obtain and use Kerberos service tickets (subject to constraineddelegation) in response to HTTP Negotiate authentication challenges.This mechanism works in reverse web proxy (aka corporate virtual privatenetwork (CVPN)) mode, and when http (but not https) connections areproxied in VPN and MicroVPN mode.

Another feature relates to application container locking and wiping,which may automatically occur upon jail-break or rooting detections, andoccur as a pushed command from administration console, and may include aremote wipe functionality even when an application 410 is not running.

A multi-site architecture or configuration of enterprise applicationstore and an application controller may be supported that allows usersto be service from one of several different locations in case offailure.

In some cases, managed applications 410 may be allowed to access acertificate and private key via an API (example OpenSSL). Trustedmanaged applications 410 of an enterprise may be allowed to performspecific Public Key operations with an application's client certificateand private key. Various use cases may be identified and treatedaccordingly, such as when an application behaves like a browser and nocertificate access is required, when an application reads a certificatefor “who am I,” when an application uses the certificate to build asecure session token, and when an application uses private keys fordigital signing of important data (e.g. transaction log) or fortemporary data encryption.

Having discussed several examples of the computing architecture and theenterprise mobility management architecture that may be used inproviding and/or implementing various aspects of the disclosure, anumber of embodiments will now be discussed in greater detail. Inparticular, and as introduced above, some aspects of the disclosuregenerally relate to enabling file attachments to be accessed in certainmobile applications such as a mobile calendar application. Mobileapplications such as an electronic calendar may communicate with othermobile applications executing on a mobile device such as an emailapplication and with one or more remote servers to access userapplication data (e.g., a user's email account information maintained ona remote Exchange server). The mobile calendar application maysynchronize its data with mobile applications on the same device ordifferent mobile device, desktop applications, and application databasesstored on remote servers using a data synchronization application (e.g.,Microsoft Activesync). By communicating with mobile applications on thesame mobile device as the mobile calendar application and bycommunicating with remote servers maintaining user account data, themobile device may retrieve information needed by the mobile calendarapplication to generate associations between file attachments present ina user's calendar events stored on the remote server and/or a desktopcalendar application. Upon retrieving such file attachments, the mobiledevice may modify the calendar event in the mobile calendar applicationto access the file attachment. For example, the mobile device maygenerate an association between the calendar event and the fileattachment and may modify the calendar event information on the mobilecalendar application to display the newly associated file attachment inthe mobile calendar application's corresponding calendar event.

ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 5 shows an illustrative computing environment 500 for providingmobile applications that previously did not have access to fileattachments with the ability to access file attachments. A mobilemessaging application 510 and a mobile calendar application 520 mayexecute on a mobile computing device 502, also referred to herein asmobile device 502. Mobile device 502 may correspond to the client device107 as described in FIG. 1 and/or the generic computing device 201 orthe client machine 240 described in FIG. 2, any one of the clientcomputers 311-314 described in FIG. 3, and/or the mobile device 402described in FIG. 4. The mobile device 502 may receive messages such asmessage 512 in the messaging application 510 by synchronizing themessaging application 510 with a remote server 508 over network 530. Thenetwork 530 may correspond to the network 101 and/or the network 230described in FIG. 2. The mobile device 502 may maintain updated calendarevents such as calendar event 522 in the mobile calendar application 520by synchronizing the calendar application 520 with a remote server 508that contains updated calendar information. The remote server 508 maycorrespond to the data server 103 and/or the web server 105 described inFIG. 1, and/or the server 206 described in FIG. 2, and/or the managementserver 310 described in FIG. 3. The messaging application 510 and mobilecalendar application 520 may be synchronized with server 508 and alsoother mobile devices 504 and 506 over network 530 through the datasynchronization application 550 executing on the mobile device 502.

The messaging application 510 executing on mobile device 502 may receivemessages such as message 512. The messaging application 510, whiledescribed here as an email messaging application, might not be limitedto email messaging applications. For example, the messaging application510 may be a text messaging mobile application, a multimedia messagingservice (MMS) mobile application, a video messaging application, and aninstant messaging (IM) mobile application. The mobile messagingapplication 510 may receive messages such as message 512 from emailservers such as server 508. The mobile messaging application 510 mayreceive messages from one or more email accounts from different emailservers and/or different email users. The mobile messaging application510 may include one or more accounts in which messages from thecorresponding accounts are stored in the mobile device 502. The mobilemessaging application 510 may communicate with the data synchronizationapplication 550 to continuously receive updates from one or more emailaccounts associated with the user of the mobile device 502. The mobilemessaging application 510 may synchronize its activity with other mobiledevices 504 and 506 on which the same mobile messaging application 510with one or more of the same email accounts are executing using the datasynchronization application 550. For example, if the mobile messagingapplication 510 receives an email from an email server 508, transmits anemail, generates a draft, flags a message 512, moves a message from onefolder to another folder, and/or performs any such action on messageswithin the mobile messaging application 510 executing on the mobiledevice 502, the data synchronization application 550 may reflect such achange in mobile devices 504 and 506's mobile messaging applications.Such a change made to the messages in the mobile messaging application510 may be reflected in the other devices mobile messaging applicationsand the messaging account application data stored in the server 508 asthe data synchronization application 550 executing on mobile device 502communicates with data synchronization applications or similar agentsexecuting on mobile devices 504 and 506 and server 508. The datasynchronization application may update each of the different folders ofeach email account executing in the mobile messaging application 510 onmessaging applications executing on different user devices that accessthe one or more message accounts that are executing on the mobile device502. The mobile messaging application 510 may also allow the user toview and/or modify any file attachments such file attachment 516attached to message 512. The mobile messaging application 510 may allowthe user of the mobile device 502 to attach any file and/or link to anymessage composed on the mobile device 502 that the mobile device 502 hasaccess to.

The mobile calendar application 520 executing on mobile device 502 mayinclude one or more calendar events such as calendar event 522. Eachcalendar event may include event information 524 identifying one or moreof the participants, location, title, and/or time of the calendar event522 as well as any notes or text associated with the calendar event 522.The calendar event 522 may also display one or more file attachmentsassociated with the calendar event 522. Generation of the fileattachment 516 in calendar event 522 will be discussed in greater below.The mobile calendar application 520 may receive messages from one ormore of the user's calendar accounts from different calendarapplications and/or different servers. For example, the mobile calendarapplication 520 may include calendar events from a user's Exchangeaccount, the user's Google calendar, calendar events generated on thelocal calendar application itself on the mobile device 502. The mobilecalendar application 520 may include one or more accounts in whichcalendar events from the corresponding accounts are stored in the mobiledevice 502. For example, the calendar events from different useraccounts may be tagged to identify the application calendar source(e.g., Exchange account, Google calendar, etc.). The mobile calendarapplication 520 may communicate with the data synchronizationapplication 550 to continuously receive updates from one or more emailaccounts associated with the user of the mobile device 502. The mobilecalendar application 520 may synchronize any changes made to itscalendar events with the appropriate calendar accounts. For example,changes made to a calendar event may be reflected on other mobiledevices 504 and 506 on which the same mobile calendar application 520with one or more of the same calendar accounts are executing. Suchchanges to calendar events may be synchronized with other mobilecalendar applications using the data synchronization application 550.For example, once the mobile messaging calendar 520 has generated a newcalendar event for a given calendar account on mobile device 502,generates a draft calendar event that has not been sent to itsparticipants, flags a calendar event 522, adds additional participantsto a calendar event 522, changes the time or location of a calendarevent 522, accepts or declines calendar event 522, and/or performs anysuch action on calendar events within the mobile calendar application520 executing on the mobile device 502, the data synchronizationapplication 550 may reflect such a change in mobile devices 504 and506's mobile calendar applications and the calendar account applicationdata stored in the server 508 by communicating with data synchronizationapplications or similar agents executing on mobile devices 504 and 506and server 508. The mobile calendar application 520 may also allow theuser to view and/or modify any file attachments such file attachment 516attached to calendar event 522. The mobile messaging application 510 mayallow the user of the mobile device 502 to attach any file and/or linkthat the mobile device 502 has access to any calendar event composed onthe mobile device 502.

Server 508 may be a remotely located server that stores multiple users'application data. For example, the server 508 may maintain records ofeach user's calendar events, messages, tasks, contact lists, etc.Although in the example embodiment shown in FIG. 5, only one server 508is shown, the mobile device 502 may communicate with multiple differentservers with access to different email accounts and calendar accounts.Each server may have a service executing on it that communicates withdata synchronization application 550 to synchronize the application dataon each device. A server program such as Microsoft Exchange Server orOpen X-change, which includes calendaring software, contacts and taskmanager, and a mail server, may execute on server 508. The server 508may receive mail from several different computing devices over network530 to be forwarded to mobile device 502. The server 508 may maintainrecords of each of its users' accounts and include updated messages,calendar events, tasks, contacts, and other application data associatedwith each user account. The server 508 may continuously synchronize suchapplication data with each computing device it has access to that isexecuting a messaging application and/or calendar application with auser account that the server 508 maintains records for. For example, theserver 508 may synchronize messages for an Exchange account that mobiledevice 502 is associated with. When the server 508 receives any newmessages for that particular account, any updates to the messagingaccount's folders, or any change in the messaging application's data forthat given account from one or more computing devices, the server 508may communicate with data synchronization application 550 executing onthe mobile device 502 to communicate such a change to the messagingapplication 510.

When a mobile device 502 initially installs and/or registers a messagingand/or calendar account with messaging application 510 and/or calendarapplication 520, the mobile device 502 communicates with the server 508via the data synchronization application 550 to register mobile device502's messaging application 510 and/or calendar application 520 with theserver 508. First, the mobile device 502 may identify the server 508that includes a server program that maintains records on the useraccount that the mobile device 502 is being registered with. The serverprogram may be Microsoft Exchange Server or any other mail serversoftware that implements the Exchange ActiveSync protocol. Uponidentifying the appropriate server 508, the data synchronizationapplication 550 executing on mobile device 502 may transmit, to server508, a request to register mobile device 502's messaging application510. In response to such a request, the server 508 may transmit a listof policies the mobile device 502 must apply in order for the server 502to communicate its secure application data with the mobile device 502.For example, in order for the mobile device 502 to communicate withserver 508, the server 508 may request that the mobile device 502 becompliant with the server 508's security policies. The server 508 mayrequest that the mobile device 502 encrypt its device storage, enforce aPIN code to unlock the mobile device 502 etc. The data synchronizationapplication 550 may instruct a processor of the mobile device 502 toexecute all such requested policies. Once the mobile device 502 hasapplied such requested policies, the data synchronization application550 may transmit an indication to the server 508 that all requestedpolicies have been enforced on the mobile device 502. Upon receivingsuch a notification of policy enforcement, the server 508 may transmit,to the mobile device 502, a list of application data folders that thedata synchronization application 550 can synchronize on the messagingapplication 510. Such application data folders may include the inboxfolder containing all messages received in the messaging account, thecalendar folders comprising all calendar information of the user'saccount, contact folders comprising all contact information stored inthe user's account, and tasks folders comprising all of the tasks thatthe user may have set for his user account. Upon receiving such a listof folders, the data synchronization application 550 may map each folderwith a mobile application. For example, the data synchronizationapplication may map the inbox folder to the messaging application 510,the calendar folder to the calendar application 520, the contacts folderto a mobile contact management application, and the task folder to amobile task management and/or reminder application. The datasynchronization application may request the content of each suchrelevant folder from the server 508 upon mapping each folder to a mobileapplication on the mobile device 502. For example, the datasynchronization application 550 may request all emails in the inboxfolder of the server 508's account data to be transmitted to themessaging application. The server 508 may transmit all requiredapplication data (e.g., messages, calendar events, tasks, and contacts)to the mobile device 502. Once the data synchronization application 550has synchronized mobile applications executing on mobile device 502 withapplication data in server 508, the data synchronization application 520may use direct push technology to receive updates from the mail server508 as changes to the application data (new email messages, calendarevent updates, email messages sent by the user on a different computingdevice etc.) are received by the server 508.

The mobile device 502 may monitor incoming messages in the messagingapplication 510 to determine if a message such as message 512 thatincludes a calendar invitation 514 has been received in the mobilemessaging application 510. If such a message has been received at themobile device 502, the mobile device 502 may generate a calendar event522 for calendar invitation 514 if one does not already exist. In someembodiments, the mobile device 502 may generate a calendar event 522 ifthe user has responded to message 512 accepting the calendar invitation514. For example, by monitoring sent emails or emails in an outboxfolder of the messaging application 510, the mobile device 502 maydetermine that the user of mobile device 502 has accepted the calendarinvitation by identifying an outgoing or sent message addressed to theorganizer of calendar invitation 514 (and/or the author of the message512). Upon identifying that the sent message includes an acceptance tocalendar invitation 514, the mobile device 502 may generate a calendarevent 522 corresponding to the calendar invitation 514 in the mobilecalendar application.

In some embodiments, calendar events such as calendar event 522 may begenerated in the mobile calendar application 520 from informationpresent in an accepted calendar invitation 514. The mobile device 502may identify event information 524 of the calendar event 522 that is tobe generated (e.g., title, location, time, participants, etc. of thecalendar event 522) from the calendar invitation 514 present in themessaging application 510. Once the mobile device 502 detects that amessage 512 with calendar invitation 514 has been received, the mobiledevice 502 may check to see if a calendar event already exists in thecalendar application 520 with event information that matches the detailsof calendar invitation 514 and/or an identifier present in the calendarinvitation 514. For example, each calendar event that is generated mayshare an identifier in common with the corresponding calendar invitationfrom which it was generated. If no calendar event exists in the calendarapplication 520 with the same identifier as the calendar invitation 514,then a new calendar event 522 may be generated in the calendarapplication 520 according to the details specified in the calendarinvitation 514. The calendar event 522 may be associated with the sameidentifier as the calendar invitation 514. However, if a calendarinvitation 514 with the same identifier as a preexisting calendar eventis received at the mobile device 502 with updated calendar eventinformation (e.g., at least one of the title, location, time,participant information, file attachment or related text has beenmodified), the mobile device 502 may identify the corresponding calendarevent associated with the modified calendar invitation and update thecorresponding calendar event with the updated calendar eventinformation.

In some embodiments, the identifier shared by a calendar event 522 andits corresponding calendar invitation 514 received in message 512 fromwhich the calendar event was generated, may also be shared by themessage 512 and any file attachments such as attachment 516 included inthe message 512. Each calendar event may be associated with such anidentifier. Even if the initial message containing the calendarinvitation 514 and file attachment 516 is deleted, a subsequentlyreceived message with updated details may include the same identifier oran indication that the subsequent message is modifying event details fora calendar invitation 514 with a given identifier. Accordingly, such anidentifier may be referenced by the mail application 510, calendarapplication 520, data synchronization application 550, and server 508 toassociate related messages, file attachments, and calendar invitationsin the messaging application 510 with their corresponding calendarevents in the calendar application 520.

In some embodiments, the mobile device may generate a pending calendarevent 522 in a pending calendar database upon determining that message512 including the calendar invitation 514 and/or file attachment 516 hasbeen received but that the user has not yet accepted the calendarinvitation 514 (e.g., responded to the message 512 accepting thecalendar invitation 514). If such a determination is made, the mobiledevice 502 may generate the calendar event 522 in a pending calendarevent database and include the pending calendar event 522 in thecalendar application 520 with an indication that the calendar event 522has not yet been accepted by the user. For instance, the calendar event522 may be grayed out or may have another visual indicator indicatingthat the calendar event 522 has not yet been accepted. Once the mobiledevice determines that the calendar invitation 514 has been accepted(e.g., determines that the user sends a response message to theorganizer of the calendar invitation 514 accepting the invitation), themobile device 502 may convert the pending calendar event 522 into anaccepted event. However, if the mobile device 502 determines that themessage has been declined by the user (e.g., determine that the userreplies to message 512 declining the calendar invitation 514), themobile device may remove the pending calendar event 522 from the pendingcalendar event database and remove the pending calendar event from beingdisplayed in the calendar application.

In some embodiments, once the mobile device 502 receives message 512with the calendar event, the mobile device 502 may check the contents ofmessage 512 to determine if there is an electronic file attachmentincluded in the message 512 for inclusion in a calendar event 522 thatis to be generated based on details found in the message 512. Upondetermining that such a file attachment is included in the message 512,the mobile device 502 may download such a file attachment to a memoryunit of the mobile device 502. Additionally, the mobile device 502 maydetermine if the message 512 includes links to file attachments that arestored on a remote computing device. If the message 512 includes a linkto a remotely stored file attachment, the mobile device 502 may accessthe remotely stored file and download it onto a memory unit of themobile device 502.

In some embodiments, before the mobile device 502 includes fileattachments in the calendar event 522, the mobile device 502 mayinstruct the data synchronization application 550 to determine whetherdesktop computing devices with access to the same calendar account(s)and/or mail account(s) that mobile device 502 accesses already have acalendar event 522 generated and if they do, which file attachments areassociated with such a calendar event. By determining which fileattachments are already included in the calendar event 522 on otherdesktop computing devices that have access to the same calendar accountas the calendar application 520, the mobile device 502 may identifywhich file attachments to use for generating file attachments in thecalendar event 522 for display on the mobile device 502's calendarapplication 520. The mobile device 502 may request these desktopcomputing devices that already have the file attachment associated withthe corresponding calendar event 522 to send the file attachment fordownload to mobile device 502. The mobile device 502 may retrieve andstore the document in a local memory unit.

In some embodiments, the mobile device 502 may generate an associationbetween an electronic file and a calendar event in order to create afile attachment within the calendar event 522 in the mobile calendarapplication 520. Once the electronic files such as file 516 attached tomessage 512 with calendar invitation 514 are retrieved by the mobiledevice 502, the mobile device 502 may update a data structure such astable 540 identifying the memory locations in which such electronicfiles are stored so that they can be easily accessed. Table 540 mayinclude associations between electronic file attachments and memorylocations at which such files are stored. In the association between afile attachment and the corresponding memory location, the fileattachment may be referred using the identifier shared by the message inwhich the file attachment is originally found on the mobile device. Forexample, file attachment 516, calendar invitation 514, and message 512may share identifier 534 a. The file attachment 516 may be downloaded tomemory location 536 a. Accordingly, an entry in table 540 may associatethe file attachment identifier 534 a with memory location 536 a.Similarly, table 540 may include multiple other such associationsbetween attachment identifiers such as 534 b and 534 c and thecorresponding memory locations in which they are stored such as 536 band 536 c.

In some embodiments, the mobile device 502 may generate associationsbetween file attachments and the corresponding calendar events in whichsuch file attachments will be attached. For example, the mobile device502 may generate a table 542 associating each electronic file attachmentwith the calendar event that it is determined to be included in. Themobile device 502 may determine that the calendar event that has beengenerated by or modified by the message including the file attachmentand calendar invitation will be associated with the file attachment(s)found in that message. For example, the mobile device 502 may determinethat the calendar event 522 is generated from calendar invitation 514found in message 512 and will be associated with file attachment 516found in message 512. Accordingly, the mobile device may identify thatcalendar event identifier 532 a, which is the calendar event identifierfor calendar event 522, is to be associated with attachment identifier534 a, which is the identifier for attachment 516. The mobile device 502may store multiple different associations between other calendar events'identifiers such as calendar event identifiers 532 b and 532 c and thecorresponding file attachment identifiers 534 b and 534 c that have beendetermined to be included in those calendar events.

The mobile device may continuously monitor the status of the calendarevents to update tables 540 and 542. Upon determining that the pendingcalendar event 522 has been declined, the mobile device 502 may deleteany associated attachments associated with the pending calendar event522 that may been downloaded to the mobile device 502 and may remove anyentries from tables 540 and 542 related to the declined calendar event.If the mobile device determines that a new message comprising a calendarinvitation and a file attachment(s) has been received, the mobile devicemay generate new entries in tables 540 and 542 upon downloading the fileattachment(s).

The mobile device 502 may generate a display of the attachment withinits corresponding calendar event. Once a calendar event is selected fordisplay, the mobile device 502 may access table 542 and determine if theselected calendar event has an associated file attachment. If the mobiledevice 502 determines that an entry for the selected calendar eventexists, the mobile device may use the associated attachment identifierretrieved from table 542 to identify the memory location at which theattachment is stored by performing a table lookup in table 540 using theattachment identifier found from table 540. Once the memory location ofthe relevant file attachment has been found, the mobile device 502 mayinclude a link to the identified memory location in the selectedcalendar event. For example, the mobile device 502 may generate adisplay of an icon for a file attachment in the calendar event selectedfor display in the calendar application 520. The file attachment iconmay comprise an embedded link to the identified memory location at whichthe file attachment is stored. Upon determining that the user hasselected the file attachment icon for display within the displayedcalendar event, the mobile device 502 may open the link and generate adisplay of the file attachment stored in the memory location specifiedin the link. The mobile device 502 may generate such a display withinthe displayed calendar event.

The mobile device 502 may also allow the file attachment to be modifiedwithin the calendar event itself. For example, the mobile device 502 mayallow the user to edit the file attachment stored in the memorylocation. Once the mobile device 502 displays the file attachment 516within calendar event 522, the user may have the option to open the fileattachment and edit it. The modified file attachment may be saved andsynchronized, using the data synchronization application 550, amongstall of the computing devices that have access to the calendar accountexecuting on the mobile calendar application 510, via server 508. Forexample, the mobile device 502 may instruct the data synchronizationapplication 550 to update the server 508 with the updated fileattachment. In some embodiments, once the attachment has been edited onmobile device 502, the user of the mobile device 502 may be presentedwith an option to share the modified file attachment with all otherparticipants of the calendar event comprising the file attachment. Forexample, upon detecting that any one of the participants has modifiedthe file attachment in their own calendar application 520, thecorresponding computing device may present an option to the user to senda calendar event update to the other participants of the calendar event.The calendar event update may include the updated file attachment. Wheneach of the participants receives the calendar event update, the fileattachment that may already have been stored to their local memory unitsmay be updated with the updated file attachment.

In some embodiments, the user of the mobile device 502 may also beallowed to attach files to preexisting calendar events or new calendarevents in their mobile calendar application 520. If the user adds anelectronic file found on the mobile device 502 to a calendar event fromwithin the mobile calendar application 520, the mobile device 502 mayallow different computing devices accessing the same calendar account toview the electronic file added by the mobile device 502 within the samecalendar event. For example, once mobile device 502 determines that acalendar event 522 has been modified with a new file attachment that wasadded locally from the memory of mobile device 502, the mobile device502 may instruct data synchronization application 550 to update thecalendar account at the server 508 with the file attachment. The mobiledevice 502 may instruct the data synchronization application 550 toretrieve the file from its memory location and transmit it to the server508 and instruct the server to store the association between thecalendar event and the file attachment for other computing devices touse.

In some embodiments, the same file attachments may be associated withmultiple different calendar events. For example, a single file may beassociated with a recurring calendar event. When an incoming message 512is received, the calendar invitation may specify that the calendarinvitation is for a recurring event. The file attachment 516 associatedwith the event may be applied to each instance of the recurring event.The association in table 542 may note that the calendar event identifierfor the recurring event or for all instances of the recurring event maybe associated with the file attachment received in the message 512 forassociation with the recurring event. If another message is received atthe mobile device 502 modifying the details of a preexisting recurringcalendar event, the mobile device 502 may determine whether the baseevent for the recurring event already is associated with the fileattachment included in the received message. If base event is notpreviously associated with the file attachment in the updated calendarinvitation of the updated message, the mobile device 502 may downloadthe attachment from the updated message and generate an associationbetween the file attachment and each of the calendar events includingthe base event of the recurring series of calendar events.

In some embodiments, a calendar event update may be received by themobile device 502. For example, the mobile device 502 may receive amessage including an updated calendar invitation specifying theidentifier of the previously existing calendar event in the calendarapplication 520 that needs to be rescheduled. The mobile device 502 maycheck the preexisting calendar event corresponding to the updatedcalendar invitation to determine if there are any file attachmentsassociated with the preexisting calendar events. If the mobile device502 determines that file attachments are associated with the preexistingcalendar events that are now subject to being rescheduled, the mobiledevice 502 modifies the link in the preexisting calendar event to thefile attachment such that the file attachments are linked to therescheduled calendar event that occurs at the time and locationspecified in the calendar event update.

FIG. 6 shows an illustrative computing environment 600 for providingmobile applications with the ability to access file attachments.According to the embodiments described with relation to FIG. 6, a mobilecomputing device such as mobile device 604 and mobile device 606 maycommunicate with server 602 to generate and maintain associationsbetween a user's calendar events. Mobile devices 604 and 606 maycorrespond to the client device 107 as described in FIG. 1 and/or thegeneric computing device 201 or the client machine 240 described in FIG.2, any one of the client computers 311-314 described in FIG. 3, and/orthe mobile device 402 described in FIG. 4, and/or the mobile device 502described in FIG. 5. Server 602 may correspond to the data server 103and/or the web server 105 described in FIG. 1, and/or the server 206described in FIG. 2, and/or the management server 310 described in FIG.3, and/or the server 508 described in FIG. 5.

Server 602 may include messages, calendar event information, tasks,contact lists, and other application data for multiple different useraccounts. The server 602 may include multiple different messages such asmessage 612. Each message such as message 612 may include one or more ofa calendar invitation 614 and file attachment 616. Each message may beassociated with a user account and may also have a unique identifierthat is shared by the calendar invitation and file attachment that itcomprises. The server 602 may include multiple different calendar eventssuch as calendar event 622 for each one of the multiple calendaraccounts that the server 602 maintains. Each calendar event 622 mayinclude one or event information 624 specifying the details of thecalendar event (e.g., time, location, title, text, participantinformation etc.). Each calendar event may be associated with a useraccount and may also have a unique identifier.

The server 602 may communicate with one or more messaging server such asmessaging server 608 and/or one or more calendar servers such ascalendar server 610 in addition to communicating with desktop computingdevices and mobile devices 604 and 606 over network 630. The messagingserver 608 may provide the server 602 with messages from variousdifferent messaging accounts for each user. Similarly, the calendarserver 610 may provide the server 602 with calendar events from variousdifferent calendar accounts for each user.

Mobile device 604 may have a mobile messaging application 610 and amobile calendar application 620 executing on it. The mobile device 604may synchronize messages and calendar events for the one or moreaccounts that it has access to with server 602 using the datasynchronization application 650 b executing on the mobile device 604.The data synchronization application 650 b may communicate with acounterpart data synchronization application 650 a executing on theserver 602 to periodically synchronize messages, calendar events, andother application data with the server 602. The mobile device maygenerate calendar events such as calendar event 622 from a receivedmessage such as message 612 comprising a calendar invitation 614 and/ora file attachment 616. Calendar event generation from a message mayoccur on the mobile device 604 as described above in FIG. 5.

Server 608 may maintain records for each user's multiple messaging andcalendar accounts. Any changes to application data for any one of suchmessaging and/or calendar events detected from the mobile devices 604and 606 may be made to the application data maintained on the server602. For example, if the server 602 detects that one of the messagingaccounts that it manages is accessed by a messaging application 610 ofmobile device 604 and that the user of mobile device 604 has made achange to a message 612 from the mobile device 604, the server 602 mayreflect such a change in the application data it maintains for message612. If the mobile device 602 adds a file attachment 616 or edits thecontent of the message 612, such a change may be reflected in themessage 612 stored on the server 602. Once the server 602 receives amessage such as message 612 from any computing device that itcommunicates with, the server 602 may determine if there are any fileattachments included in the message 612. If an attachment 616 isdetected in the incoming message 612, the server 602 may download theattachment 616 and store it in a memory location of the server 602.Multiple different file attachments may be stored in the server 602. Theserver 602 may keep track of the memory location at which eachdownloaded file attachment is stored in table 640. Table 640 maycorrespond to table 540 of FIG. 5.

In some embodiments, the server 602 may generate calendar events frommessages with calendar invitations as described in greater detail abovewith relation to FIG. 5. The server 602 may generate associationsbetween calendar events and attachments and store these associations intable 642. Each association between a calendar event and a fileattachment may be tagged with an identifier for the user account thatsuch an association corresponds to. For example, upon generating acalendar event 622 (having a calendar event identifier 632 a) from user604's message 612, the server 602 may generate an association betweenthe attachment 616 (having an attachment identifier 634 a) found inmessage 612 of the user 604's account. Such an association between thefile attachment identifier and the calendar event identifier may bestored in table 642.

In some other embodiments, the server 602 may receive calendar eventsgenerated by different computing devices that it communicates with. Forexample, mobile device 604 may generate calendar event 622 from message612. Mobile device 604 may generate associations between fileattachments and calendar events. The mobile device 604 may instruct datasynchronization application 650 b to communicate with datasynchronization application 650 a executing on the server 602 totransmit such an associated that is generated at the mobile device 604so that the association may be stored in table 642. The server 602 maystore such associations that it receives from mobile device 604 andother computing devices and tags such associations with thecorresponding user account to generate table 642.

The data synchronization application 620 a may retrieve attachment 616from device 604 if it doesn't already have such a file stored in itsmemory unit. For example, in response to determining that a fileattachment 616 is to be associated with a calendar event that the server602 maintains a record of, the server 602 may check to ensure that thefile attachment is stored in the server 602. If the server 602determines that the attachment is not available at the server 602, thenthe server 602 may instruct data synchronization application 650 a tocommunicate with the data synchronization application 650 b executing ona computing device that has a copy of the file attachment 616. The datasynchronization application 650 a may retrieve the file attachment 616from the mobile device 604 and generate an entry in the table 640 forthe memory location in which the retrieved attachment 616 is stored.However, if server 602 identifies that attachment 616 is stored in itsown memory, the server may generate an association between theattachment and a calendar event. The server 602 may generate a link to acorresponding file attachment in each calendar event that is associatedwith a file attachment by referring to tables 640 and 642 according tothe techniques described above in FIG. 5 for generation of a link to afile attachment within a calendar event.

Once an association is generated between each of the calendar eventsmaintained by the server 602 and their corresponding file attachments,the server 602 may instruct data synchronization application 650 a tocommunicate with data synchronization applications on other compatiblemobile devices such as mobile devices 604 and 606 to have such devicesaccess and retrieve associations between calendar events and fileattachments that they do not previously have access to. Accordingly, theserver 602 may synchronize all compatible mobile devices withassociations between all of its calendar events and their correspondingfile attachments such that the mobile devices may generate a link toeach file attachment within the calendar event. For example, mobiledevice 606 may retrieve calendar events, messages, file attachments, andtable 642 of associations between the calendar events and fileattachments from server 602. Using such information, the mobile device606 may generate a link within a calendar event to its associated fileattachment such that when a user of the mobile device 606 selects thecalendar event for display in a mobile calendar application, the fileattachment that is linked to the calendar event may be displayed withinthe calendar event in the mobile calendar application.

FIGS. 7A and 7B depict flowcharts that illustrate a method 700 ofenabling access to file attachments in a mobile calendar application. Inone or more embodiments, the method of FIGS. 7A and 7B and/or one ormore steps thereof may be performed by the processor of a mobilecomputing device (e.g., generic computing device 201, client computers311-314, mobile device 402, or mobile device 502, and mobile device604). In one or more other embodiments, the method of FIGS. 7A and 7Band/or one or more steps thereof may be performed by the processor of amobile computing device

In other embodiments, the method illustrated in FIGS. 7A and 7B and/orone or more steps thereof may be embodied in computer-executableinstructions that are stored in a computer-readable medium, such as anon-transitory computer-readable memory.

As seen in FIG. 7A, the method 700 may begin at step 702 in which amobile device may receive a message comprising a calendar invitation. Amobile data synchronization application executing on the mobile devicemay communicate with a remote server and receive messages periodicallyor as they become available on the remote server. The mobile datasynchronization application may provide the received messages to amobile messaging application executing on the mobile device into afolder that corresponds to the user account that the incoming messagefrom the server is associated with. Each incoming message may beexamined to determine whether the message comprises a calendarinvitation. For example, the mobile device may determine if the messagecomprises a calendar invitation or calendar update. If there is acalendar invitation in the message, the method 700 may proceed to step704.

At step 704, the mobile device may determine whether the receivedmessage comprises a file attachment. For example, the mobile device mayexamine the contents of each incoming message with a calendar invitationto determine if there is a file attachment or a link to a fileattachment associated with the calendar invitation. If there is no suchfile attachment included in the message, the method 700 may not proceedwith the remainder of the steps in method 700 and may return to step 702and continue to monitor for other messages comprising calendarinvitation.

At step 706, the mobile device may determine whether the calendar eventfor the calendar invite already exists in the user's calendar. Uponreceiving the message comprising the calendar invitation, the mobiledevice may identify the identifier of the message and its correspondingcalendar invitation. The mobile device may search through the calendarevents in the mobile calendar application and its pending calendardatabase to determine if a calendar event with the same calendar eventidentifier as the received calendar invitation already exists in themobile calendar application. For example, if the newly received calendarinvitation is a repeat invitation for a preexisting message or anupdated invitation with additional details and/or modifications for apreexisting message, the newly received invitation will have the samecalendar event identifier as the preexisting calendar event. On theother hand, if the calendar invitation corresponds to a calendar eventthat does not yet exist in the mobile calendar application, the calendarevent identifier might not match any of the preexisting calendar events'identifiers.

At step 708, in response to determining that the calendar eventcorresponding to the calendar invitation already exists in the mobiledevice's calendar application, the mobile device may determine whetherthe preexisting calendar event in the mobile device's calendarapplication already includes the file attachment received in themessage. The mobile device may identify the identifier of the fileattachment in the received message. In some embodiments, the fileattachment identifier may be the same identifier as the messageidentifier and/or the calendar event identifier. The mobile device mayfirst determine if the preexisting calendar event includes any fileattachments. If there are no file attachments associated with the fileidentifier, the process 700 may proceed to step 710. However, if thereis a file attachment associated with the preexisting calendar eventmatching the received calendar invitation, the mobile device may comparethe attachment identifiers of the attachment received in the receivedmessage with that of the file attached to the preexisting calendarevent. If the mobile device determines that the preexisting calendarevent already includes the same file attachment, the method 700 mayproceed to step 722 to determine if the calendar event needs to berescheduled.

At step 710, in response to determining at step 708 that the preexistingcalendar event in the mobile device's calendar application does notinclude the same attachment as the attachment enclosed in the receivedmessage, the mobile device may store the file attachment received in themessage to a memory unit. The mobile device may determine that thecalendar invitation includes a new file attachment that preexistingcalendar event should include upon determining that the preexistingcalendar event does not include the file attachment included in themessage for the corresponding calendar invitation intended to modify thepreexisting calendar event. Accordingly, the file attachment from thereceived message may be downloaded to a memory device of the mobiledevice. If the received message includes a link to the file attachmentstored in a remote computing device, the link may be stored in lieu ofthe file attachment in the memory unit for inclusion in the preexistingcalendar event when it is to be updated. In another implementation, themobile device may use the link to download the file attachment from theremote computing device to the memory unit of the mobile device forinclusion in the preexisting calendar event. Once the file attachmenthas been stored, the method 700 may proceed to step 722 to determine ifthe calendar event needs to be rescheduled.

At step 712, in response to determining at step 706 that the mobiledevice's calendar application does not have a preexisting calendar eventcorresponding to the calendar invitation enclosed in the receivedmessage, the mobile device may generate such a calendar event in themobile calendar application. The calendar event may be populated withdetails found in the received calendar invitation. The mobile device mayassign the newly generated calendar event with a calendar eventidentifier that corresponds to the identifier of the received messageand the calendar invitation from which the calendar event was generated.

At step 714, the mobile device may determine whether the calendarinvitation has been accepted by the user. The mobile device maydetermine if the user of the mobile device has accepted the calendarinvitation. The mobile device may monitor both the calendar applicationand the messaging application to determine if a response message to thereceived message has been sent to the organizer of the calendarinvitation confirming acceptance of the received calendar invitation.

At step 716, upon determining that the calendar invitation has not yetbeen accepted by the user, the mobile device may store the fileattachment in a pending calendar events database until the user acceptsthe calendar invitation. The mobile device may also maintain thegenerated calendar event in the pending calendar events database. Themobile device may also monitor the mobile messaging application and thecalendar application executing on the mobile device to determine if theuser declines the calendar invitation by monitoring for a response sentto the organizer of the calendar invitation declining acceptance of thereceived calendar invitation. If the user declines the calendarinvitation, the mobile device may delete the generated calendar eventand the file attachment from the pending calendar events database. Ifthe user declines the calendar invitation, the mobile device mayinstruct the data synchronization application to instruct a remoteserver maintaining the user's account data and other computing deviceswith access to the same calendar and messaging account as the mobiledevice to delete the calendar event and the file attachment from thepending calendar events database on each of these devices.

At step 718, in response to determining that the calendar invitation hasbeen accepted, the mobile device may store the file attachment to thememory. The calendar event may be moved from the pending calendardatabase into a scheduled events database of the mobile calendarapplication. The file attachment from the received message may bedownloaded to a memory device of the mobile device. If the receivedmessage includes a link to the file attachment stored in a remotecomputing device, the link may be stored in lieu of the file attachmentin the memory unit for inclusion in the preexisting calendar event whenit is to be updated. In another implementation, the mobile device mayuse the link to download the file attachment from the remote computingdevice to the memory unit of the mobile device for inclusion in thepreexisting calendar event. The mobile device may instruct the datasynchronization application to inform the remote server maintaining theuser's account data and other computing devices with access to the samecalendar and messaging account as the mobile device to schedule thecorresponding calendar event into a scheduled events database and todownload the file attachment onto their respective memory units.

At step 720, the mobile device may generate a link in the calendar eventto the file attachment. The mobile device may generate and store anassociation between the calendar event and the file attachment as shownby table 542 of FIG. 5. Once the file attachment found in the incomingmessage has been stored in a memory location of the mobile device andthe mobile device has generated a calendar event corresponding to thecalendar invitation included in the incoming message, the mobile devicemay generate an association between the generated calendar event in themobile calendar application and the file attachment stored in the memoryof the mobile device. The mobile device may generate such an associationin order to enable the file attachment to be accessed from the calendarevent in the mobile calendar invitation independently of the messagingapplication. In order to make such an association, the mobile device mayidentify the identifier of the file attachment in the incoming message.The mobile device may also determine whether the file attachment in theincoming message is intended to be associated with the calendarinvitation included in the incoming message. For example, the mobiledevice may determine whether the file attachment or the metadata for thefile attachment refers to the calendar invitation. Additionally, themobile device may determine whether the calendar invitation included inthe incoming message and/or metadata associated with the calendarinvitation refers to the file attachment. The mobile device may furtherdetermine if the calendar invitation and/or any executable instructionsassociated with the calendar invitation includes any function calls tothe file attachment included in the incoming message. Upon determiningthat the file attachment is intended to be associated with the calendarinvitation, the mobile device may generate an association between thecorresponding calendar event generated from the calendar invitation andthe file attachment now stored in the mobile device. The mobile devicemay generate an association between an identifier of the calendar eventan identifier of the file attachment. For example, the mobile device maydetermine a unique identifier by which the calendar event is identifiedin the mobile calendar application. The mobile device may also identifya unique identifier by which the file attachment stored in the memory ofthe mobile device may be identified. The mobile device may generate andstore an association between the unique identifier of the calendar eventand the file attachment in the mobile device as described above in thedescription table 540 of FIG. 5.

By identifying which file attachment is associated with a given calendarevent and the memory location at which the given file attachment isstored, the mobile device may generate a link to the identified memorylocation in the calendar event. The calendar event in the mobilecalendar application may be modified to include a graphic indicator(e.g., icon) of the file attachment. The graphic indicator may furthercomprise an embedded link that is generated to the memory location atwhich the file attachment is stored. Upon generating such a link withinthe calendar event in the mobile calendar application, the calendarevent's generation may be completed and the method 700 may proceed tostep 740 to determine if a request has been received to view theattachment in the calendar event.

At step 722, once the file attachment for a preexisting calendar eventhas either been stored to memory or has been determined to already existin mobile device, the mobile device may determine whether the calendarevent needs to be rescheduled. The mobile device may determine that thereceived message with a calendar invitation corresponding to thepreexisting calendar event may include information on modifying thepreexisting calendar event. Accordingly, it may be determined whetherthe received calendar invitation indicates a change in the scheduledtime of the calendar event. If the calendar event needs to berescheduled, the method 700 may proceed to step 728 to reschedule thecalendar event.

At step 724, upon determining in step 722 that the calendar event doesnot need to be rescheduled, the mobile device may update the calendarevent information. For example, if the calendar invitation does notinclude a change in time for the preexisting scheduled calendar event,the mobile device may determine what other details of the preexistingcalendar event require modification, if any, according to the receivedcalendar invitation. By comparing the details of the calendar invitationagainst the calendar event information of the preexisting calendarevent, the mobile device may determine whether the participantinformation, the title, location, and/or text of the calendar eventneeds to be modified. Upon determining the item(s) that requiremodification, the mobile device may implement the modifications to thecalendar event information and update the calendar event in the mobilecalendar application. The data synchronization application may beinstructed to communicate such changes to the corresponding calendarevent stored in the remote server and other computing devices withaccess to the same user calendar account.

At step 726, the mobile device may generate a link in the calendar eventto the file attachment if such a link does not already exist. The mobiledevice may determine if a link already exists in the preexistingcalendar event to the file attachment. If the file attachment did notexist in the preexisting calendar event before the message with theupdated calendar invitation was received at the mobile device, themobile device may generate a link to the file attachment found in themessage. By identifying which file attachment is associated with thepreexisting calendar event and the memory location at which the givenfile attachment is stored at step 710, the mobile device may generate alink to the identified memory location in the calendar event. Thecalendar event in the mobile calendar application may be modified toinclude a graphic indicator (e.g., icon) of the file attachment. Thegraphic indicator may further comprise an embedded link that isgenerated to the memory location at which the file attachment is stored.Upon generating such a link within the calendar event in the mobilecalendar application, the calendar event's updated may be completed andthe method 700 may proceed to step 740 to determine if a request hasbeen received to view the attachment in the calendar event.

At step 728, in response to determining at step 722 that the calendarevent needs to be rescheduled, the mobile device may reschedule thecalendar event. For example, the mobile device may determine the newtime at which the calendar invitation indicates the calendar eventshould be rescheduled. The mobile device may modify the calendar eventin the mobile calendar application to the rescheduled time. The mobiledevice may also determine if such rescheduling creates a conflict bydetermining if the rescheduled calendar event overlaps with any otherpreviously scheduled calendar events at the rescheduled time.

At step 730, the mobile device may determine whether the calendar eventcorresponding to the received calendar invitation is part of a recurringcalendar event. For example, the calendar event may be examined todetermine if it is related to one or more other calendar events.Recurring calendar events may have a shared calendar event identifierand/or may be scheduled to occur at the same time periodically. Althoughthe rescheduled event has been modified and may be out of the recurringtime scheme of the recurring events, the mobile device may determine ifall of the recurring events are to be rescheduled or if the calendarinvitation only indicated the rescheduling of just the given calendarevent. If the mobile device determines that the calendar event is not apart of a recurring calendar event, the method 700 may proceed to step736 to modify the link in the calendar event to a file attachment inorder to associate the rescheduled event with the file attachment.

At step 732, in response to determining that the calendar event is partof a recurring event, the mobile device may determine whether the baseevent of the recurring event includes the same file attachment as theattachment enclosed in the message received at step 702. The base eventof the recurring series of calendar events may be examined to determineif it includes a file attachment. If the base event includes a fileattachment, the identifier of the file attachment may compared againstthe identifier of the file attachment in the message received at step702 to determine if the same file attachment is already associated withthe base event. If the mobile device determines that the base eventcontains the same attachment, the method 700 may proceed to step 736 tomodify the link in the calendar event to a file attachment in order toassociate the rescheduled event with the file attachment.

At step 734, in response to determining that the base event of therecurring series of calendar events does not include the file attachmentreceived at step 702, the mobile device may store the received fileattachment to memory. The mobile device may determine that the calendarinvitation includes a new file attachment that the base calendar eventshould include upon determining that the base calendar event does notinclude the file attachment included in the message for thecorresponding calendar invitation intended to modify the preexistingcalendar event. Accordingly, the file attachment from the receivedmessage may be downloaded to a memory device of the mobile device. Ifthe received message includes a link to the file attachment stored in aremote computing device, the link may be stored in lieu of the fileattachment in the memory unit for inclusion in the preexisting calendarevent when it is to be updated. In another implementation, the mobiledevice may use the link to download the file attachment from the remotecomputing device to the memory unit of the mobile device for inclusionin the preexisting calendar event. Once the file attachment has beenstored, the method 700 may proceed to step 736.

At step 736, the mobile device may modify the link in the calendar eventto a file attachment in order to associate the rescheduled event withthe file attachment. The mobile device may either generate a link if onedoes not already exist within the rescheduled calendar event to itsassociated file attachment. If the base event of the recurring event orthe preexisting calendar event did not previously include the fileattachment before the file attachment was received in step 702, anassociation between the rescheduled calendar event and the fileattachment may be generated and the link may reflect such anassociation. The mobile device may generate a graphic indicatorcomprising the link within the calendar event. However, if thepreexisting calendar event does include a link to the file attachmentbefore the message was received at step 702, the link may be modified atstep 736 to reflect the rescheduling of the calendar event. For example,the mobile device may modify the association between the file attachmentand the preexisting calendar event to ensure that the file attachment isassociated with the rescheduled calendar event and not the previouslyexisting calendar event. The mobile device may generate or modify thelink within the rescheduled calendar event in mobile calendarapplication to reflect such a change.

At step 740, the mobile device may determine whether a request to viewthe attachment within the calendar event has been received. The mobiledevice may receive such a request by monitoring the user activity withthe user interface of the mobile device and determine whether any ofthese user interactions include a request to view the calendar event. Ifthe user has requested to view the calendar event, the mobile device mayfurther determine if the user has selected the graphic indicatordisplayed in the calendar event. If the mobile device has not receivedsuch a request to display the file attachment within the calendar eventdisplayed in the mobile calendar application, the mobile device maycontinue monitoring user interactions with the mobile calendarapplication until such a request is received.

At step 742, once the request to view the attachment has been received,the mobile device may display the attachment by accessing the memorylocation indicated in the calendar event's link. Upon determining thatthe user has selected the file attachment graphic indicator that isdisplayed within the calendar event in the mobile calendar application,the mobile device 502 may open the link, retrieve the file attachmentstored in the memory location specified in the link, and generate adisplay of the file attachment within the displayed calendar event.

Although the subject matter has been described in language specific tostructural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understoodthat the subject matter defined in the appended claims is notnecessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above.Rather, the specific features and acts described above are described asillustrative implementations of the following claims. It is to beunderstood that the above disclosure is illustrative only. The followingillustrative embodiments are representative only, and not intended to belimiting in any respect.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: receiving, by a mobilecomputing device, a message comprising an electronic calendar invitationand an electronic file attachment; generating an association between theelectronic file attachment received in the message and a calendar eventof an electronic calendar mobile application executing on the mobilecomputing device, wherein the calendar event is associated with theelectronic calendar invitation; and responsive to receiving a selectionto display the calendar event in the electronic calendar mobileapplication, generating a display of the calendar event comprising adisplay of the associated electronic file attachment in the electroniccalendar mobile application.
 2. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: storing the electronic file attachment to a memory locationof the mobile computing device; generating a link within the calendarevent to the memory location, wherein the display of the electronic fileattachment within the calendar event is a display of the electronic fileattachment stored in the memory location; and responsive to receiving aselection to display the electronic file attachment in the electroniccalendar application, retrieving the electronic file attachment storedin the memory location for display in the electronic calendar mobileapplication.
 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising: responsive todetermining that the electronic calendar invitation has been accepted,transmitting a response message accepting the calendar invitation,wherein the association between the electronic file attachment and thecalendar event is generated in response to transmitting the responsemessage.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising: responsive totransmitting a response message accepting the calendar invitation:generating the calendar event in the electronic calendar mobileapplication; and instructing a mobile data synchronization applicationto use the association between the electronic file attachment and thecalendar event to generate a link to the electronic file attachment inthe calendar event.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:instructing a mobile data synchronization application to transmit theassociation between the electronic file attachment and the calendarevent to a computing device remotely located from the mobile computingdevice; and instructing the mobile data synchronization application tostore the association in a user directory on the remotely locatedcomputing device, wherein the user directory corresponds to a useraccount to which the message was addressed.
 6. The method of claim 1,wherein the association between the electronic file attachment and thecalendar event further is generated by: identifying, from a messagingprotocol of the received message, a unique identifier associated withthe received message; and generating a link to the electronic fileattachment in the calendar event by including the unique identifier inan electronic calendar protocol associated with the calendar event. 7.The method of claim 1, further comprising: responsive to determiningthat the calendar event associated with the electronic calendarinvitation previously exists in the electronic calendar mobileapplication, determining whether the previously existing calendar eventis associated with the electronic file attachment, and wherein theassociation between the electronic file attachment received in themessage and the calendar event is generated in response to determiningthat the previously existing calendar event is not associated with theelectronic file attachment.
 8. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: receiving another message comprising an updated electronicfile attachment; and modifying the association to associate the calendarevent in the electronic calendar mobile application with the updatedelectronic file attachment.
 9. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: determining whether the calendar event associated with theelectronic calendar invitation previously exists in the electroniccalendar mobile application; responsive to determining that the calendarevent does not exist, storing the electronic file attachment into apending calendar event database; and wherein the association between theelectronic file attachment received in the message and a calendar eventin an electronic calendar mobile application is generated in response todetermining that the calendar event has been generated in the electroniccalendar mobile application.
 10. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: instructing a mobile data synchronization application tostore the electronic file attachment on a server remotely located fromthe mobile computing device; and instructing the mobile datasynchronization application to store the association in a user directoryon the remote server, wherein the user directory corresponds to a useraccount to which the message was addressed.
 11. The method of claim 10,wherein upon receiving a request, from a second mobile computing devicewith access to the user account, to view the calendar event, the serverinstructs the mobile data synchronization application executing on thesecond computing device to: retrieve the electronic file attachment andthe association stored in the user directory on the remote server; anduse the association to generate a display of the electronic fileattachment in a display of the calendar event in the electronic calendarmobile application executing on the second mobile computing device. 12.An apparatus comprising: at least one processor; at least one displayscreen; and at least one memory storing computer-readable instructionsthat, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatusto: receive a message comprising an electronic calendar invitation andan electronic file attachment; generate an association between theelectronic file attachment received in the message and a calendar eventof an electronic calendar mobile application executing on the apparatus,wherein the calendar event is associated with the electronic calendarinvitation; and responsive to receiving a selection to display thecalendar event in the electronic calendar mobile application, generate,on the display screen, a display of the calendar event comprising adisplay of the associated electronic file attachment in the electroniccalendar mobile application.
 13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein theinstructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further causethe apparatus to: store the electronic file attachment to a memorylocation in the memory; generate a link within the calendar event to thememory location, wherein the display of the electronic file attachmentwithin the calendar event is a display of the electronic file attachmentstored in the memory location; and responsive to receiving a selectionto display the electronic file attachment in the electronic calendarapplication, retrieve the electronic file attachment stored in thememory location for display in the electronic calendar mobileapplication.
 14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the instructions,when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the apparatusto: in response to determining that the electronic calendar invitationhas been accepted, transmit a response message accepting the calendarinvitation, wherein the association between the electronic fileattachment and the calendar event is generated in response totransmitting the response message.
 15. The apparatus of claim 12,wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor,further cause the apparatus to: instruct a mobile data synchronizationapplication to generate the calendar event in the electronic calendarmobile application; and instruct the mobile data synchronizationapplication to use the association between the electronic fileattachment and the calendar event to generate a link to the electronicfile attachment in the calendar event.
 16. The apparatus of claim 12,wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor,cause the apparatus to generate the association between the electronicfile attachment and the calendar event further by further causing theapparatus to: identify, from a messaging protocol of the receivedmessage, a unique identifier associated with the received message; andgenerate a link to the electronic file attachment in the calendar eventby including the unique identifier in an electronic calendar protocolassociated with the calendar event.
 17. The apparatus of claim 12,wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor,further cause the apparatus to: responsive to a determination that thecalendar event associated with the electronic calendar invitationpreviously exists in the electronic calendar mobile application,determine whether the previously existing calendar event is associatedwith the electronic file attachment, and wherein the association betweenthe electronic file attachment received in the message and the calendarevent is generated in response to determining that the previouslyexisting calendar event is not associated with the electronic fileattachment.
 18. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the instructions,when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the apparatusto: receiving another message comprising an updated electronic fileattachment; and modifying the association to associate the calendarevent in the electronic calendar mobile application with the updatedelectronic file attachment.
 19. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein theinstructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further causethe apparatus to: determine whether the calendar event associated withthe electronic calendar invitation previously exists in the electroniccalendar mobile application; responsive to determining that the calendarevent does not exist, store the electronic file attachment into apending calendar event database; and wherein the association between theelectronic file attachment received in the message and a calendar eventin an electronic calendar mobile application is generated in response todetermining that the calendar event has been generated in the electroniccalendar mobile application.
 20. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein theinstructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further causethe apparatus to: instruct a mobile data synchronization application tostore the electronic file attachment on a server remotely located fromthe apparatus; and instruct the mobile data synchronization applicationto store the association in a user directory on the remote server,wherein the user directory corresponds to a user account to which themessage was addressed.